by Sam Amick, USA TODAY Sports

by Sam Amick, USA TODAY Sports

Free agent forward Al Jefferson has agreed to sign with the Charlotte Bobcats on a three-year, $40.5 million deal, a person with knowledge of the situation confirmed to USA TODAY Sports.

The deal has a player option in the third season, and the Bobcats will have to use their amnesty clause on forward Tyrus Thomas in order to make the deal work. The person spoke on the condition of anonymity because the deal can't be formalized until the free agency moratorium lifts on July 10.

Jefferson spent his last three seasons with the Utah Jazz, averaging 17.8 points and 9.2 rebounds in the 2012-13 campaign in which the Jazz finished 43-39 and missed the postseason by just two games. Yet while the deal is quite a coup for the agency that landed it, Excel Sports Management, it was a hefty price to pay for a Bobcats team that has gone 28-120 in the last two seasons and had such a dearth of talent down low.

Their top scorer in its frontcourt last season was center and now-free agent Byron Mullens, (10.6 points a game) and the top rebounder was big man Bismack Biyombo (7.3 boards a game), so Jefferson will certainly give Charlotte a big boost in terms of being competitive. The Bobcats needed a veteran presence as well, and the 28-year-old will bring balance in that regard as he joins a young core that includes point guard Kemba Walker and small forward Michael Kidd-Gilchrist.

But the cost goes beyond Jefferson, as Thomas will still be paid the $18 million combined that was owed to him in the next two seasons while being waived and allowed to sign with another team once, as is widely expected, he clears waivers. The amnesty provision is one-time clause for teams that allows a player's salary to be taken off a team's books for salary-cap purposes only. It can only be used on contracts that were signed before the current collective bargaining agreement was put in place in Dec. 2012.